


Mixed Blessings

by FreshBrains



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Blood, Community: tfa_kink, Father Figures, Fear, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Menstruation, POV Rey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-07
Updated: 2016-01-07
Packaged: 2018-05-12 11:35:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5664649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FreshBrains/pseuds/FreshBrains
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I feel a little out of my depth. Anatomy, even human anatomy, was never my strong suit.” Luke leaves the cloak in the basin to soak before facing Rey. “What I do know is that you’re not hurt, and you’re not dying.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mixed Blessings

**Author's Note:**

> For the DW tfa_kink prompt: [Let's say Rey was too undernourished and physically active on Jakku to have a period, and so was every other human female there, so when she wakes up bloody and in awful pain one night after she's been on island planet for a while training with Luke and eating well, she's thinks she's injured or ill. Luke can feel her fear and confusion and it wakes him up, so he goes to her and sees what's happening and is relieved. He explains the whole thing to her and uses the force to help her alleviate and manage the pain. Basically, I want Rey to be scared and Luke to be scared until he realizes she's not actually sick or hurt, and for him to take care of and reassure her. Rey hasn't had anyone to help her through any difficulties before, so she's as moved by Luke's care as she was by Finn's concern for her and his coming back for her. Basically I want a lot of platonic, but very intimate bonding and h/c between master and apprentice.](https://tfa-kink.dreamwidth.org/1082.html?thread=1402426#cmt1402426)
> 
> Due to the subject, blood is discussed frankly!

“I miss mine, too,” Luke says, putting out the last of the candles before they settle in to sleep. “Always.”

Rey furrows her brow, pausing as she unties her bedroll. “I don’t understand, Master.”

“My family,” Luke says with a kind smile. “You’re especially solemn tonight. You only get this way when you miss your family and your friends. I know the feeling.”

Rey returns his smile with a nod. “I’ll be alright. Am I…pushing?” She still doesn’t know the certain terms used by Jedi Knights, but she’d be awfully sorry if her dour mood was seeping into Luke as well.

“Not at all,” Luke says with a brief laugh. He pulls his cloak tighter around his body, sinking into his own bedroll. “Some things are easily known without the Force.”

“I’m unsettled,” Rey admits, curling onto her side. “There’s a pain in my stomach, very low down. I’m sorry if my training wasn’t great today.” She’d be glad to blame her mood on the persistent cramp in her gut, but she knows it goes deeper than that. It permeates her mind, too.

“You’re training was admirable as always,” Luke says with a yawn. “Your focus is commendable. Perhaps your stomach will feel better with some rest.”

“Perhaps,” Rey says, even as she curls up tighter to relieve the ache. “Goodnight, Master Luke.”

*

As a scavenger, Rey had her fair share of injuries. Blood was nothing new on Jakku—blood could be spilt over something as simple as a misunderstanding at the trading post or something as gruesome as an accident with a felled luggabeast. She’d faced broken bones, bloody noses, cuts and scrapes, and any other rough-and-tumble bang-ups gotten from the life she’d fallen into.

But blood had never, _ever_ come from _there_.

“Master,” she hisses, crawling up on her hands off her bedroll, whipping her cloak onto the ground. “Master, please wake up!”

“What is it?” Luke is up in an instant, the flash of his lightsaber blinding in the dark.

“I’m hurt,” Rey says, voice shaking. She holds up her hand to the light and feels sick when she sees the smear of blood across her fingertips. She looked down to see a splotch of blood on her bedroll and even more soaking her thin underthings. “Something is happening, I’m sure of it. I _knew_ I was out of sorts!”

“Rey, let me see,” Luke says, his saber retreating. He lights the candle once more. “Are you in pain?”

Her stomach still has that persistent ache. “I don’t know, I don’t—“ she feels panic rise up in her throat. _Is this why I was sad yesterday, because my death was coming? Was that a sign?_

“Be still,” Luke says calmly, and Rey squeezes her eyes shut as he checks over her body was sure hands. When he presses lightly on her lower abdomen, just above her vulva, she groans, the pain doubling. He stills, and Rey opens her eyes, still willing back tears. “Padawan, you’re only having your blood. Have you never had pains during it before?”

Rey frowns, sitting up. “What do you mean, _only_? Why am I bleeding?”

Luke is a hard man to read, especially in the dimness of candlelight, but Rey can see a wash of sadness over his features as he sits cross-legged next to her bedroll. “Forgive me. I grew up on a desert planet, too. My aunt struggled with the same difficulties.” He takes her bedroll. “If you’re feeling okay, can you fetch me some cold water, and start the fire again?”

Though she’s still frightened, Rey trusts the calmness of her master and obeys, standing on shaking legs. By the time she sits down again, Luke is scrubbing at her bedroll with a basin of cold water, the stain slowly fading, and their shelter is warm and bright with a crackling fire.

“Rey, on Jakku, did you have any women you were intimate with, any women you’d consider like aunts or sisters?” He takes her cloak next and soaks it in the basin.

“No,” Rey answers, “the only women who stuck around were the old lifers at the Outpost. We didn’t speak much.”

Luke is quiet again for a moment. He scrubs Rey’s cloak with his hands, removing the blood with the rough scrape of his fingernails, and Rey feels a little embarrassed at the origin of the blood and the way it leaves her master unfazed. “I feel a little out of my depth. Anatomy, even human anatomy, was never my strong suit.” He leaves the cloak in the basin to soak before facing Rey. “What I do know is that you’re not hurt, and you’re not dying.”

Rey scoffs. “I didn’t _think_ I was—“

“Yes, you did,” Luke says wryly, “and that’s okay. You didn’t know, and as your master, I am telling you. Most of the females throughout all species, at least the ones who carry ova, bleed for about five standard days out of every month when they reach maturity. Usually, for endothermics, that’s when they’re about twelve or thirteen years old.”

Rey just blinks at him. “But this has never happened to me before. Is it a Force thing?”

Luke laughs. “The Force is in _everything_ , Rey, especially in our bodies. It could very well have something to do with your Force sensitivity, but more likely…” he pauses, that sad look returning to his face. “The reason why this happens is to get bodies ready for carrying children. And though reproduction is biological in the strictest sense, there is, of course, an emotional level to it all, as there is in everything we do.”

Rey thinks for a moment, taking it all in. “Was my body telling me not to have children?” She realizes she’s never thought of that one way or another. Each day that passed was about _her_ survival, _her_ next meal—there was simply no time given to such future endeavors.

“I think your _environment_ was telling you not to have children,” Luke says. “You were so thin when you came here to me, so pale, yet so teeming with strength. All of your energy was focused on keeping yourself alive.”

Rey lets out a deep exhale, her body sinking into something like relaxation. She’s _not_ dying, but she’s not happy, either. “This island. There’s fresh water, and rain, and plants to eat. I sleep for seven hours at night!” Though her life as a Jedi apprentice has its own difficulties, she’s the healthiest she’s ever been. For the first time in her life, she wants for nothing. But she can’t help but wrinkle her nose at the next thought. “Am I supposed to have babies now?” Her lack of knowledge about this monthly blood doesn’t mean she is in the dark about how _that_ happens.

This makes Luke laugh and blush a little. “Certainly not. At least I know that _I_ will not help you with that task.”

Despite her embarrassment, Rey laughs too, hiding her face. “What an awful conversation to have in the middle of the night.”

“I’ve had much worse,” Luke says, stroking back Rey’s hair. “Though it may not seem so, this is a good thing, my girl. You’re healthy and strong. Your body is joining in closer to the Force.”

Rey takes a deep breath, smiling at her master. “I wish I _felt_ stronger.”

Luke nods, giving her a sympathetic smile. “Why don’t you lie down on my bedroll while I gather a few things? When we were young, I would make my sister more comfortable during her time. Han tried, but maker knows that man had his struggles.”

Rey giggles as she eases down on Luke’s still-warm bedroll, but pauses before making herself comfortable. “Uh, perhaps I should go wash first.”

“Hm,” Luke says, thinking for a moment. He then takes his heavy cloak and uses a small knife to rip apart strips of cloth from the bottom. “Fold these over and use them in your underthings. There are much better products back home, but these will do for now.” He empties the basin of red-tinged water outside the shelter. “Fetch some more water and bathe while I fix you a tea.”

Rey shivers as she strips off her ruined underthings and washes, Luke’s back turned politely for her comfort. Her stomach turns when she sees more blood sink into the water. “This is unpleasant,” she murmurs.

“So I’ve heard,” Luke says, and Rey feels a rush of affection for her master, the man she’s come to know like a father these past few months. He’s naturally empathetic, never patronizing, always ready to let Rey know she’s loved and that she has a family now. “I hope this helps.” As she curls up on his bedroll, fresh underthings padded with protective cloth and Luke’s cloak draped around her shoulders, he hands her a small cup of fragrant tea. “Tisane is often used as a medicine, and it also calms the nerves. I’ll teach you to make it someday.”

“Thank you,” she says softly, sipping the tea. “I’m glad…” she closes her eyes, suddenly tired, and thinks that Luke might be using the Force to gently lull her to sleep for her own comfort. “I’m glad I’m not alone.”

“Me, too,” Luke says. He looks into the fire, face peaceful, and Rey slips back into sleep.


End file.
